Novak Djokovic (left) of Serbia shakes hands with Nishesh Basavareddy of USA following their round 1 match at the 2025 Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, 13 January 2025. Picture: EPA, JOEL CARRETT
Novak Djokovic survived a first-set scare on Monday to begin his quest for an 11th Australian Open title and record 25th Grand Slam crown in shaky fashion.
The 37-year-old was flat-footed and out of ideas early on against teenage American wildcard Nishesh Basavareddy, who was making his Grand Slam main draw debut.
The 19-year-old stunned Djokovic by winning the first set in front of a shocked Melbourne Park crowd.
But the Serbian slowly began to get his measure, battling through 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-2, with new coach Andy Murray sitting quietly courtside on Rod Laver Arena in one of the newly introduced “coaching pods”.
The win put Djokovic into the second round in Melbourne for an 18th consecutive year.
“At the end, it was great – but I think he was the better player for a set-and-a-half,” said seventh seed Djokovic. “He deserves every bit of applause that he got.
“These kinds of match-ups are always tricky, dangerous when you are playing someone who has nothing to lose.
“He’s a very complete player.”
The veteran appeared unsure how to handle the athletic youngster at first.
At 3-3 in the first set Djokovic left a lob that instead landed in to give his opponent three break points, and the American converted with a crosscourt backhand, to gasps from the crowd.
With Djokovic spraying shots long and wide, Basavareddy wrapped up a set in which the Serb made 11 unforced errors and failed to convert any of the three break points he worked.
The shock of going behind on a court he has long owned woke up Djokovic, and he clawed back in the second set, earning his first break to go 5-3 ahead and serving out to level the match, roaring in elation.
The American needed treatment on his left leg at the changeover, and wasn’t the same player afterwards as Djokovic twisted the knife and raced to victory.
Djokovic will next play Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria in his bid to win one more Slam and surpass Margaret Court’s 24 as the best ever.
Should he go all the way, it will be his 100th career title, just the third man in the Open era to reach the milestone behind Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103).
Meanwhile, Djokovic was joined in the second round on Monday by Carlos Alcaraz and defending champion Jannik Sinner.
Italian World No.1 Sinner was playing under a cloud after twice testing positive for traces of a steroid in March. He denies wrongdoing and was cleared by tennis authorities, but the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed and is seeking to ban him for up to two years.
Sinner was warmly welcomed on Rod Laver Arena before defeating Chile’s Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (7/5) 6-1.
“I was curious to see how it was. You never know what’s happening,” he said about the reception.
“I was happy about the crowd,” said Sinner, who has not tasted defeat since losing to Alcaraz in the Beijing final in October.
Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion but never a winner in Melbourne, had a couple of hairy moments before seeing off the challenge of Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko 6-1 7-5 6-1.
“This is a tournament I really want to win one day, hopefully this year,” said the 21-year-old Spaniard.
In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff powered through with minimum fuss as they seek to dethrone two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Earlier, the 11th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first major casualty when Alex Michelsen blasted past him 7-5 6-3 2-6 6-4.
AFP
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